Liams



UNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

WILLIAM L. WILLIAMS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MACHINE FOR BNDLING KINDLINGr-WOOD.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 25,156, dated August 16, 1859.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM L. WIL- LIAMS, of the city, county, andState of New York, have invented and made certain new and usefulImprovements in Machinery for Bundling Kindling-IVood; and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe construction and operation of the same. reference being had to theannexed drawing, making part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1,is a general plan of said machine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 isa plan at the bed on which the kindling wood moves, and Fig. 4L is avertical transverse section.

Similar marks of reference denote the same parts.

My said invention consists in a machine that takes fire wood, as splitup by a competent machine, and bundles the same, by passing a wire orits equivalent around it, so as to secure the said kindling wood in suchbundles of a size convenient for sale or for handling. To accomplishthis purpose I feed the wood along in a trough, separate from the massthe amount necessary for a bundle, the pieces standing end upward; Ithen convey away said wood to a compress ing apparatus to consolidatethe mass, and while thus held pass a wire around the same and twist theends together, the complete bundle is then forced out and the oper ationis completed.

In the drawing (L, is the main shaft or prime mover, Z), is a secondaryshaft connected to a, by the miter gearing c and vertical shaft c, sothat both move with uniformity and from these shafts a or Z) all theother parts receive their motion.

(Z is a feeding trough into which the wood is passed from the splittingmachine, and is fed along by clamps f, that are projected onto the woodand slid along as next set forth.

CZ are slides that are projected inward by cams 1, 1, and 2, 2 are studsthat guide the said slides, and have springs to throw them back. Thecams 1, 1, are connected by links 3, 3, and are actuated by arms Z2 on across shaft d3, provided with a coiled spring 5, to throw the parts backto their former position; and in the links 3, 3, blocks of rubber areprovided to yield and prevent any injury to the parts.

e, is a link from Z2 to a right angle crank l e from which a link e2passes to the peni dent lever e3, against which the cam 4, properlyshaped and timed, acts. In the slides (Z the feeding clamps f are fittedto slide and carry the wood along.

f are levers on a cross shaft 6, and f2 is link to the right angle crankor bent lever f3, from which a link f4 passes to the pendent lever f5,acted on by the cam 7. The parts are so timed that the slides (Z pressthe blocks j' against the wood, said blocks f then are slid alongfeeding the wood, the slides then draw back, and the blocks f return totheir former position.

g is a sliding support to keep the wood from falling over as it goesforward.

g is a weight and cord keeping the support g up to the wood but allowingthe same to yield as the wood is pressed against g.

ZL, is a knife that is thrown down by the lever Zz and cam 8, (on a thatdivides and separates the wood for each bundle when the proper amounthas been forced into the trough (Zt, as aforesaid, and h2, is a slidingconcave ended carrier that moves the wood along in the trough CZ, andone bundle of wood secured byl a wire as hereafter set forth is pressedout as the carrier h2, moves the wood along and the gatherers Z', i',close onto the wood, and these gatherers z", z, and the semicircular endof form the wood into a loose circular bundle. The carrier h2 is slidalong by the lever h3 on the cross shaft 9, from which the lever h5, andlink Zt, pass to the arm 72,7, said arm Zi? being on a shaft 10,provided with a spring to keep the arm k7, to the cam 11 on shaft a.

The curved gatherers z" are hinged to (Z4 at i, and are opened andclosed at the proper times by links 12, to cranks 2 and 3, Z3, thelatter of which are linked by 4, 'Z14k to levers 5 and 6 on a crossshaft 13, and the lever 5 is weighted and moved by the cam 14 on a.

The next operation is to compress the wood into a compact bundle, forthis purpose I have two hollow conical plungers that press over theedges of the bundle and force the same together while a plunger fromabove brings the ends of the wood level.

Z, is the lower conical gatherer, that rises up through a circularopening in the bottom of trough d4. This is raised by a lever Z andsling 16.

17 is a shaft forming the fulcrum for Z', and 18 is a cam on Z), toelevate this conical gatherer. In order to support the wood at the levelof the bottom of trough Z4 I provide a disk 7c, on a vertical spindlesustained by the cross bridge lc, said disk being within this gathererand stationary at the level of the bottom of CZ, and beneath this disksegmental plates, sliding one above the other as seen in Fig. 4 and inthe plan Fig. 5, are provided, said segments being kept out by springs,and being forced in by the conical inner surface of Z, as it risesaround the wood standing on this disk and segmental plates.

m is a conical gatherer similar to Z, that is simultaneously pressedonto the wood by means of a lever a and sling; the lever mf, being actedon by the camQO on a. Through this conical gatherer m a bar passes,having on its end a plunger or press-block m, that is forced down by thelever n, and its cam 19 to bring the upper ends of the wood level, andalso to hold said wood while the conical gatherer m commences to lift sothat the wood does not remain wedged into this conical gatherer. Thecams are so shaped and positioned that the conical gatherers separateafter the wire has been passed around the bundle as next set forth andthe bundle is ready for delivery.

I provide a hollow square frame o, with a circular opening and give tosaid frame a vertical movement. When elevated the frame is Yout of theway of the bundle being delivered and the next supply of woodintroduced, when depressed, the frame surrounds the wood, which occupiesits circular opening, and a traveler conveys the wire around the bundle,which wire had been introduced into the frame when elevated. This frame0, is provided with four rods passing through the plate that guides thegatherer m, said rods are connected at their upper ends by cross heads21, from which links 22, pass to the levers on the cross shaft 02, and23 is a cam acting on 0 to elevate or depress the frame o.

p is a traveling clamp moved by a lever p2 on shaft 17, p3 is a link top4, a pendent lever acted on by the cam 24, on shaft b. The wire passesthrough this traveling clamp p, and is by it projected forward eachmovement beneath the cutter' 26 into the frame 0, when in its elevatedposition. The cutter 26 is moved by the lever g, and a pin on the sideof the cam 23, and a clamping edge on the cutter holds onto the end ofthe wire while the traveling clamp moves back. The length of wire as cutoff occupies the groove 33, and is projected through the hollow frame 0.I cause this frame to descend as before stated and carry the wire aroundas next described.

r, is a shaft receiving an oscillating motion from the crank r and linkto r2, a lever acted on by cam 27. s is a cam on this shaft r, acting ona lever s,that clamps the 'Wire at its center as it lies in the frame 0.

82 is a slotted crank arm acting on a trav'- eler S3, that moves inslides s4 and projects forward a flat linked chain traveling in acircular groove around the inside of frame 0, and at theend of the chainon each side there is a jaw 30, that conveys the wire around the bundleof wood, and 29 are blocks on the chain which force the wire against thewood. The construction of these jaws is shown in larger size in Fig. 6,wherein it will be seen that when the jaws come together a cylindricalnut is formed which can be revolved within the end pieces of the chainto twist the ends of the wires retained between said aws, and thatneither jaw can become detached from its place because a dovetail ringis formed around the edges, hence when revolved the respective jaws passout of one end part of the chain into the next. The means which I employto revolve these jaws consist of the shaft t, that is formed as a squareopening taking projecting pieces from the jaws 30. This shaft Z isfitted to slide endwise in its bearings and is kept in position by aspring key and slot in one side, which slot or groove guides the shaft,but the key therein springs out by an inclination when -the shaft isrevolved. End motion is given to this shaft t, at the right time by anarm Z', crank Z2, link t3, and lever t4 acted on by a cam 3l.

u is a rack with a link u, to 'the lever il?, and its cam 32, and 34, isa pinion on the shaft t.

The operation of this part is that when the jaws 30, have carried thewire around the bundle of wood and come together the shaft t, is slidendwise throwing pinion 34, into gear with the rack u, the rack israised which rotates both the shaft t and the jaws twisting the wire,that completes the bundling operation. The parts then all return totheir former position and the operation is repeated. In all instancesthe movements of the parts are given primarily by cams or theirequivalents, and the springs or Weighted levers effect the returnmotion. As the wire is projected into the machine by the traveling clampp, it might bend on account of being annealed and soft. I thereforeprovide the sliding spring guides 25, that keep the wire in position andare themselves forced out of the way by the clamp p, as it moves along.

What I claim as my invention and desire tol secure by Letters Patent,is-

l. The feeding clamps f and slides CZ, arranged and actuated insubstantially the manner and for the purposes set forth.

2. I claim the combination of the separating and dividing knife l1.,with the concave wood carrier 71,2, to convey the wood to the bundlingapparatus, as specified.

viv'

3. I claim the sliding support g, arranged and acting as set forth tosustain the kindling wood as fed into the machine and keep it in placeas described and shown.

4. I claim the curved gatherers z, fitted and acting as set forth todeliver the bundle of wood and ga'ther the next loose wood into a bundleas specified.

5. I claim the conical gatherers Z, and m, to concentrate and compressthe bundle of wood as described and shown.

6. I claim the stationary plate 7c, and segments 15, in combination withthe conical gatherer Z, to sustain the wood while acted on as specified.

7. I claim the plunger or press block m, acting to bring the ends of thebundle of wood level, as set forth.

8. I claim the vertical moving frame 0, forming the receptacle for thewire, and the guide for the apparatus that wraps said wire around thebundle of wood as set forth.

9. In combination with the frame o, I claim the chain 28, to wrap thewire around the bundle of wood and the clamp s', to hold the wire nearthe middle part thereof as described and shown.

10. I claim the circular twisting jaws 30,

moving in dovetails and acting when relV. L. VILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

LEMUEL W. SERRELL, THos. GEO. HAROLD.

